Elite Russian tank brigade suffers 'catastrophic' losses and is refusing to carry out orders after they were repeatedly told to drive to their deaths through infamous Ukrainian mine-filled crossroads
- Russian brigade apparently mutinies after order to drive through a minefield
- Commanders have urged repeat assaults on the heavily fortified position
Russia's elite 155th Brigade is reportedly refusing to advance on the Ukrainian town of Vuhledar after suffering 'catastrophic losses' at the settlement's mine-laden crossing point.
The armoured division appears to have mutinied following orders to drive straight into a heavily fortified minefield which has been dubbed the 'corridor of death' following repeated futile advances.
Vuhledar has resisted Putin's suicidal wave tactics for months and nearly wiped out the brigade towards the end of January, now reinforced with powerful American antivehicle mines.
Putin's elite brigade - which served in Syria and has been in Ukraine since the start of the war - lost 130 tanks following sustained orders to attack the position, and is today made up mostly of inexperienced recruits.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian military told the Kyiv Post: 'The leaders of the brigade and senior officers are refusing to proceed with a new senseless attack as demanded by their unskilled commanders - to storm well-defended Ukrainian positions with little protection or preparation.'
![Deadly crossroads in eastern Ukraine are dubbed the 'corridor of death' for advancing tanks](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/16/68391847-11826665-image-a-32_1678121484850.jpg)
Deadly crossroads in eastern Ukraine are dubbed the 'corridor of death' for advancing tanks
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/21/68398701-11826665-image-a-6_1678137175480.jpg)
Footage show the moment a tank follows orders to enter the heavily fortified minefield
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/21/68398707-11826665-image-a-7_1678137186859.jpg)
Russia's elite 155th Brigade is reportedly refusing to advance on the Ukrainian town of Vuhledar following the losses it has suffered at the mine-laden crossing point
![Still shows the moment a Russian BMP trips an antivehicle mine on the infamous crossroads](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/16/68391845-11826665-image-a-33_1678121550459.jpg)
Still shows the moment a Russian BMP trips an antivehicle mine on the infamous crossroads
![Russian armoured divisions are loathe to drive through the hellish crossroads which have been reinforced with American antivehicle mines](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/16/68391837-11826665-image-a-35_1678121605569.jpg)
Russian armoured divisions are loathe to drive through the hellish crossroads which have been reinforced with American antivehicle mines
![Russian tank explodes after being hit by bomb dropped from a drone in Ukraine in undated footage released in March 2023](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/16/68389763-11826665-image-a-25_1678119157598.jpg)
Russian tank explodes after being hit by bomb dropped from a drone in Ukraine in undated footage released in March 2023
Ukrainian forces around the town of Vuhledar have been locked in 'fierce' battles with Russia in the east for months.
The battered mining town is a hellscape of burned out buildings and artillery bombardment.
But Ukraine's use of mines has exacerbated the Russian difficulty through the winter making a sustained advance.
Video footage at the end of February showed the moment a Russian BMP infantry fighting vehicle of the 144 Brigade was destroyed after hitting two mines and being hit by an anti-tank weapon.
The vehicle gradually comes to a stop after a large explosion which causes smoke to start billowing out of the vehicle.
Almost the entire 155th Marine Brigade of 5,000 was wiped out near Vuhledar at the end of January when driving into minefields of American-supplied remote anti armour mines.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has nonetheless told commanders to take the town at all costs.
But the tank division, as well as two 'Cossack' units, appear to have mutinied after repeated futile efforts.
Justin Crump, a British military analyst, said of the Russian wave tactics: 'Repeating the same thing time after time and hoping for a different outcome is a sign of madness.'
While the Institute for the Study of War notes that Ukrainian forces are likely now conducting a 'limited tactical withdrawal' from the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces around Vuhledar remain steadfast in their defence of the city.
A report also noted that the Donetsk People's Republic commander Alexander Khodakovsky had questioned whether Russia forces would be prepared for a possible Ukrainian counterattack having - in his words - gotten 'carried away by Bakhmut [and] Vuhledar'.
Ukraine's use of Soviet-era TM-62 antivehicle mines has been effective in the defence of Ukrainian towns and cities, but the provision of 7,200 US-supplied anti-armour mines have significantly reinforced the defensive lines.
Able to be scattered from a distance, the RAAMs allow the Ukrainian defenders to lay traps for advancing Russian armour from a distance, without laying them individually and by hand from within the minefields.
The American RAAM mines involve firing a shell over an open area that scatters a cluster of tiny mines over a given area.
The mine is a 155mm howitzer shell containing nine separate mines.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/16/68391829-11826665-image-m-31_1678120893986.jpg)
![A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a mortar on a front line, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the front line city of Bakhmut, Ukraine March 6, 2023](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/06/16/68390375-11826665-image-a-27_1678120352699.jpg)
A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a mortar on a front line, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the front line city of Bakhmut, Ukraine March 6, 2023
Ukraine is bound to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits use of antipersonnel mines.
This does not prohibit the use of antivehicle mines or remote-controlled mines.
Russia never signed the convention, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, and is not obliged not to use such mines.
The invaders have used at least seven types of antipersonnel mines in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Sumy.
Human Rights Watch claimed at the end of January that Ukraine had used so-called petal mines in and around the Ukrainian city of Izium, contrary to previous reports the country had not.
They noted Russia had 'used these weapons in even greater numbers than Ukraine in a much more widespread fashion in different parts of the country.'
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